Liquid cooler



Aug. 30, 1938. R. H. TULL ET AL LIQUID COOLER Filed Dec. 18,

RND

ATTOR Y 49 INVENTOR ROBERT H- TUL-L E o C. THNNER- FIG. 2.

Patented Aug. so, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LIQUID COOLER Application December 18, 1936, Serial No. 116,470

8 Claims.

Our invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and particularly to refrigerating apparatus of the type used for the cooling of bottled beverages.

It is an object of our invention to provide refrigerating apparatus for the cooling of bottled beverages in which positive cooling of the bottled beverages is eifected by forced circulation of a liquid bath in which the bottled beverages are stored.

It is another object of our invention to provide refrigerating apparatus for the cooling of bottled beverages in which the cooling element and the means for effecting forced. circulation of the liquid bath may be removed as a unit without breaking any of the conduit or cable connections thereto.

It is still another object of our invention to provide a novel and improved cooling element for use in a bottled beverage cooler.

It is a further'object of our invention to provide a bottled beverage cooler in which the bottom of the bottled beverage storage compartment is unobstructed by refrigerating coils and can, therefore, be readily cleaned.

These and other objects are effected by our invention as will be apparent from the following description and claimstaken in connection with the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the bottled beverage refrigerator. cabinet embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the cabinet shown in Fig. 1, illustrating in particular the coolingelement and the motor driven circulator disposed in the storage compartment;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view of a wall of the cabinet in Fig. 1 illustrating the method of supporting the motor driven circulator and showing the manner in which the motor cable and the various conduits pass "through the wall from the apparatus disposed in the storage compartment; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a wall of the cabinet shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the U-shaped opening therein with the motor cable and the various conduits passing therethrough shown in section.

Referring specifically to the drawing for a detailed description of our invention, numeral l designates, generally, a refrigerator cabinet for the wet cooling and storage of bottled beverages.

As shown in Fig. 1, the cabinet l0 comprises a storage compartment II and an apparatus compartment l2. The storage compartment H is provided with an access opening IS in the top thereof closed by a removable cover 20. A liquid bath l3, the level of which is indicated at M, is contained within the storage compartment l 2 and has immersed therein bottled beverages, as shown at It. A motor-driven circulator I1 is disposed entirely within the storage compartment l I and circulates the liquid bath I3 over the bottled beverages IS in a manner to be described more fully hereinafter.

A refrigerating system is associated with the cabinet l0 and includes, in general, a hermetically' sealed motor-compressor unit l8, a condenser IS, a fan 2i for cooling the condenser, a cooling element 22 and a surge header 23. The motorcompressor unit l8, the condenser l9 and the fan 2| are assembled as a unit on a base 25 disposed in the apparatus compartment while the cooling element 22 and the surge header 23 are disposed in the storage compartment H.

The cooling element 22 is of the once-through continuous coil type and comprises a continuous length of copper tubing helicallycoiled so as to provide concentric inner and outer coils 21 and 28 respectively which provide a series passage for a cooling medium therethrough. The tubing has an inlet 29, which is part of the inner coil 21, and an outlet 3|, which forms part of the outer coil 28. The cooling element 22 is vertically disposed in the storage compartment ll so that it is substantially immersed in the liquid bath l3, and is disposed in spaced relation with the bottom of the storage compartment, the surge header 23 providing the support therefor. As is best shown in Fig. 2, the inlet 29 is attached, preferably by soldering, to the surge header 23 at 30. Other portions of the cooling element 22, as shown at 33 and 34, are attached to a bracket 32 secured to the inner side of the surge header 23 by soldering or welding.

The surge header 23 comprises a single coil of copper tubing of large cross-section, the ends of which are secured together, preferably by soldering, in order to provide a continuous annular passage within the coil. As is shown in Fig. 2, the surge header is connected to the outlet 3! of the cooling element 22 and communicates through a conduit 36 with the hermetically sealed motorcompressor unit I8. Thus the surge header 23 provides a reservoir for liquid refrigerant in the low side of the refrigerating system and an expansion volume for the suction conduit 36. Any liquid refrigerant which may pass through the cooling element 22 will be deposited in the surge header 23 and will not be carried out through the suction conduit 33, thereby preventing frosting of the suction conduit 35 and the subsequent loss in refrigeration. The surge header 23 is attached by soldering to the under side of two spaced L- shaped brackets 31 and 33, respectively, which are secured to the wall of the cabinet I0 by bolts 33. The brackets 31 and 38 are positioned on the wall of the cabinet so that the lower half of the surge header 23 is immersed in the liquid bath I3, with the result that any liquid refrigerant which may pass through the cooling element 22 and be deposited in the surge header 23 will aid in cooling the liquid bath I3 and pass as refrigerant vapor to the motor-compressor unit I8 through the suction conduit 38.

The motor driven circulator I1 preferably operates simultaneously with the motor-compressor unit I8 and effects a forced circulation of the liquid bath I3 during the on cycle of the motorcompressor unit, thereby effecting adisplacement of that portion of the liquid bath I3 in direct contact with the cooling element 22 so as to bring it in contact with the bottled beverages I6 to keep them at the desired temperature. The motor driven circulator I1 comprises a motor 4| connected to a suitable source of power by a cable 42, a downwardly extending shaft 43 dilF ctly connected to the motor and actuated thereby and a propeller 44 fixedly held in position on the lower end of the shaft 43 by a nut 46. The motor H is supported above the surge header 23 by mounting brackets 41 and 43 on which it is held in position by bolts 49 and 5|, respectively. The mounting brackets 41 and 48 are attached, preferably by welding to the top side of the brackets 31 and 33, respectively. As shown in Fig. 2, the shaft 43 with the propeller 44 attached thereto extends downwardly through the surge header 23 and the inner coil 21 to a point below the bottom of the cooling element 22 and above the bottom of the storage compartment II.

A vertically extending U-shaped metal shell 52 having the top portion closed as shown in Fig. 2 is disposed in the storage compartment I I so as to enclose the motor-driven circulator I1, the surge header 23 and the cooling element 22 and to separate these parts from the storage compartment proper, the purpose of the shell 52 being to prevent injury to the refrigerant conduits and to screen the circulating water. The shell 52 is positioned against the wall of the storage compartment and is held in place by bolts 53 and 54 (not shown) which pass through the shell and the brackets 31 and 38, respectively, thereby facilitating the removal of the shell 52 when such is necessary. As is best shown in Fig. 1, a portion of the shell 52 intermediate of the top and bottom thereof is formed of wire screening 56 in order to provide a communicating passage for the circulation of the liquid bath between the compartment formed by the shell 52 and the storage compartment proper. A second communicating passage is provided between the two compartments at the bottom of the shell 52.

When the motor driven circulator I1 operates, a forced circulation of the liquid bath I3 is set up by the propeller 44. The portion of the liquid bath in the shell 52 in contact with the cooling element 22 is displaced downwardly out of the shell 52 and into the storage compartment II to circulate substantially in the direction indicated by the arrows shown in Fig. 1. As the displaced liquid bath passes from the bottom of the shell 52 into the storage compartment I I, another portion of the liquid bath I3 circulates into the shell 52 through the wire screening 55, is cooled by the cooling element 22 and the surge header 23 and is again drawn into the storage compartment by the action of the propeller 44. This circulation of the liquid bath continues until it has cooled the bottled goods and until the temperature of the liquid bath has been reduced to a predetermined temperature.

As shown in Fig. 2, a thermostatic bulb 51 is disposed adjacent to the cooling element 22 and in that portion of the liquid bath contained in the shell 52. The bulb 51 is operatively connected by a control tube 58 to a switch mechanism 55, diagrammatically shown in Fig. 1. positioned on the hermetically sealed motor-compressor unit IB for the purpose of controlling the operation of the motor-compressor unit I8 and the motor-driven circulator I1 in response to the temperature of the cooling element 22 or of the liquid bath I3.

When the motor-compressor unit I8 is operated by actuation of the switch mechanism 59, refrigerant vapor is drawn from the cooling element 22 through the surge header 23 and the suction conduit 36 by the suction of the motorcompressor unit I3. The compressed refrigerant is then conveyed by a conduit BI to the condenser I9 wherein it is liquefied by the cooling action of the fan 2I. veyedthrough a conduit 62 from the condenser I9 to the inlet 29 of the cooling element 22. The liquid refrigerant entering the cooling element 22 through the inlet 29 first circulates downwardly through the outer coil 28 to absorb some heat from the portion of the liquid bath I3 within the metal shell 52. From the outer coil 23 a mixture of liquid" and refrigerant vapor circulates upwardly through the inner coil 21 to absorb more heat from the portion of the liquid bath I3 in the metal shell 52 and then into the surge header 23 from which it is conveyed to the motor-compressor I8 through the conduit 36 completing the cycle. As is shown in Figs. 1 and 3, portions of v the conduit 62 are wound in heat exchange relation around the suction conduit 36 in order to have the liquid refrigerant supplied to the cooling element 22 as cool as possible and to prevent frosting of the suction conduit 36 or the conduit I52 by expansion of refrigerant therein, with subsequent loss in refrigeration.

The suction conduit 36, the conduit 62, the control tube 58 and the motor cable 42 are all preferably flexible and extend from their associated apparatus in the apparatus compartment I2 up an outside wall of the cabinet and into the storage compartment II through an opening 63 in the wall of the cabinet, as shown in Fig. 4, to connect with their respective associated parts therein. It is, therefore, evident that the motorc-ompressor unit I8, the condenser I9 and the fan 2I assembled on the base 25 may be removed from the apparatus compartment I2 as a unit without breaking any of the conduit or cable connections thereto. Likewise, the cooling element 22, the surge header 23 and the motordriven circulator I1 supported by the brackets 31 and 38 may be removed as a unit from the storage compartment II without breaking any of the conduit or cable connections thereto by simply removing the shell 52 and the bolts 39 which secure the brackets 31 and 33 to the wall of the cabinet. It is also possible, after the shell 52 has been removed, to remove only the motordriven circulator I1 from the storage compartment II without breaking the cable connections The liquefied refrigerant is con-' aware-1 I thereto by removing the bolts 49 and H which secure the motor ll to the brackets 31 and ll, respectively. In removing only the motor-driven circulator H, the shaft 43 with the propeller 44 attached thereto is drawn up through the inner coil 21 and the surge header 23 and out of the storage compartment I I through the access opening IS. -The ease with which the above apparatus may be removed from or inserted in a cabinet of the type described makes it particularly suitable for use in revamping existing cabinets of the above-mentioned type.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that we have provided refrigerating apparatus for the wet cooling of bottled beverages in which positive cooling is effected by the forced circulation of the liquid bath in which the bottled beverages are immersed and in which a novel cooling element is utilized to cool the liquid bath. It is also apparent that the cooling element, the surge header and the motor-driven circulator may be removed as a .unit from the cabinet without breaking any of the conduit or cable connections thereto. It is further apparent that the motordriven circulator alone may be removed from the cabinet without breaking the cable connection thereto.

While we have shown our invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and we desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or-as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In refrigerating apparatus for the wet cooling of bottled beverages, the combination of a cabinet embodying an apparatus compartment, a bottled beverage storage compartment having an access opening, a cover for closing said opening, said storage compartment being adapted to contain a liquid bath in which bottled beverages are immersed, a refrigerating system associated with said cabinet including a compressor and condenser disposed in the apparatus compartment and a cooling element at least partially immersed in said liquid bath to absorb heat therefrom, means disposed entirely within the storage compartment to eifect the circulation of the liquid bath, and conduit connections between the compressor, condenser and cooling element, said conduit connections being sufficiently flexible to afford the removal of the cooling element from the storage compartment through said access opening without breaking said conduit connections.

- 2. In refrigerating apparatus, the combination of a cabinet, a bottled beverage storage compartment in said cabinet having side walls and a bottom wall, said storage compartment being adapted to contain a liquid bath in which bottled beverages are immersed, vertically disposed cooling means substantially immersed in said liquid bath and attached to one of said side walls, and circulating means associated with the cooling means to effect circulation of the liquid bath outwardly from the side wall supporting the cooling means along the bottom wall and into the cooling means adjacent to upper portions thereof.

cabinet, said storage compartment being adapted to contain a liquid bath in which bottled beverages to be cooled are disposed, a refrigerant'coil vertically disposed in said storage compartment and having a portion extending into said liquid bath to absorb heat therefrom, suction means for withdrawing refrigerant vapor from said refrigerant coil, a surge header having a vertically extending opening through the center thereof disposed above said refrigerant coil, said surge header being connected to said refrigerant coil and to said suction. means to provide a refrigerant reservoir therebetween, a frame structure for supporting said refrigerant coil and said surge header, means disposed entirely'within said storage compartment ior circulating said liquid bath therein, said means comprising a motor disposed above said refrigerant coil and said surge header and supported by said frame structure, a shaft directly connected to said motor extending downwardly through said opening in said surge header and through said refrigerant coil to a point below the lower extremity thereof and a propeller secured to said shaft at its lower extremity.

4. Refrigerating apparatus for the cooling of bottled beverages embodying an evaporator comprising a surge header and cooling coils for containing vaporizable refrigerant, said coils having an inlet and an outlet opening into said surge header, said surge header being annular in shape and being disposed above said coils and said cooling coils comprising a single tube ofsubstantial length helically wound to form a pair of convoluted coils disposed one within the other and providing a once through continuous passage for the circulation of vaporizable refrigerant through said inner coil and said outer coil in series.

5. Refrigerating apparatus for the cooling of bottled beverages embodying an evaporator comprising a surge header and cooling coils for containing vaporizable refrigerant, said coils having an inlet and an outlet opening into said surge header, said surge header being annular in shape and being disposed above said coils and said cooling coils comprising a single tube of substantial length helically wound to form a pair of convoluted coils disposed one within the other and providing a once through continuous passage for the circulation of vaporizable refrigerant first through said inner coil and then through said outer coil to said surge header and said annular surge header and said convoluted coils providing a vertical passage through the center of the evaporator. i

6. In a refrigerating apparatus for the wet cooling of bottled beverages, the combination of a cabinet embodying an apparatus compartment.

a bottled beverage storage compartment having an access opening therein, a cover for closing said access opening, said storage compartment being adapted to contain a liquid bath for immersing bottled beverages, a refrigerating system associated with the cabinet including a heat absorbing element extending into said liquid bath to absorb heat therefrom, a propeller for circulating the liquid of said bath, a motor for driving the propeller, both said motor and said propeller being disposed entirely within said storage compartment and means for supporting the heat absorblng element, the motor and the propeller as a unitary structure so that they are removable from said storage compartment as a single entity,

through said access opening.

7. In refrigerating apparatus for the wet coolcabinet embodying an apparatus compartment, a bottled beverage storage compartment having an access opening therein, a cover for closing said access opening, said storage compartment being adapted to contain a liquid bath in which bottled beverages are immersed, a refrigerating system including a refrigerant coil immersed in said liquid bath to absorb heat therefrom, a circulat or for circulating the liquid of said bath, and a motor for driving the circulator, both said motor and said circulator being normally disposed entirely within the storage compartment, said motor and said circulator being independently removable from said storage compartment without said refrigerant coil.

8. In refrigerating apparatus for the wet coo1- ing 01' bottled beverages. the combination of a cabinet, a bottled beverage storage compartment in said cabinet having side walls and a bottom wall, said storage compartment containing a liquid bath in which bottled beverages are immersed, a cooling element in said storage compartment for cooling the liquid bath, a circulator for effecting forced circulation of the liquid bath over the bottled beverages, a motor for driving the circulator disposed entirely in the storage compartment, and means for supporting the cooling element, the motor and the circuiator as a unit from one of the side walls of said storage compartment to provide a maximum amount of storage space therein.

ROBERT H. TULL.

ELO C. TANNER. 

